Leaf- and stem-mine: Eggs are scattered individually over the leaf upper surface; they are only loosely attached to the plant. The egg shell has a honeycomb structure. The larva begins with first mining one of the top leaves completely out. Next the larva moves down to another leaf, by way of a tunnel made in the stem. In this way several leaves are mined out, completely and full depth. In the attacked part of the plant the stem has become translucent; the damage causes the plant tip to wilt. In the first mines almost no frass is to be found, further down it is deposited in coarse grains. Pupation generally outside the mine (Miles, 1953) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: The mandible of the full-grown larva has one hook-shaped tooth (Miles, 1953).

Puparium: Details unknown.

Comments: Griffith (1982) records echinata as a leaf-miner and in the stems of many Caryophyllaceae and Chenopodiaceae. According to G.C.D. Griffiths (pers. comm.) the records of D. echinata on Phlox are doubtful. Ackland in Chandler (1978) did not indicate whether his host records were British or Foreign and are therefore tentatively included under 'Hosts in Britain' and 'Hosts elsewhere', as is the record by Pitkin and Plant, which was previously assumed to be British.

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - mines: Larvae throughout the summer in 2 or 3 generations (Hering, 1957).

Time of year - adults: Unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Britain including Warwickshire (Allesley, Dosthill and Keresley) (Robbins, 1991); Anglesey, Brecon, Caernarvonshire, Cardiganshire, Cumberland, Dorset, Durham, Easterness, Elgin, Glamorgan, Huntingdonshire, North Somerset, Orkney, Oxfordshire, Peebles, Pembrokeshire, West Gloucestershire, Westmorland and Zetland (NBN Gateway - N.B. includes Watsonian Vice Counties having publicly available records that fall within or overlap the vice county border at 10km resolution or better i.e. a record for a vice county may relate to an adjacent vice county - for included datasets see NBN Grid map below).

NBN Grid map: Note that not all datasets on the NBN Gateway may be available on the map below. If you are an NBN Gateway registered user you can request access for missing datasets via the link 'Open interactive map in new window' below.

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including The Netherlands (Bladmineerders van Europa), Belgium (Gosseries and Ackland, 1991), Andorra, Austria, Canary Is., Corsica, Crete, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Faroe Is., Finland, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Iceland, Italian mainland, Madeira, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Russia - East and North, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Sweden and Switzerland (Michelsen, in Fauna Europaea).

Also recorded in Japan (Suwa, 1974), Canada and Alaska (Griffiths, 1991).

NBN interactive distribution map(s) of known host species in Great Britain and Ireland and elsewhere:

Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: Unknown.